The Blog and Memoirs of Jerry Seltzer.

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Don’t just write it, fight it!

One of my friends posted a pretty disturbing article on facebook that really upset her and others, including me.

Basically, it was about how Republicans now had control of 25 states Governor’s houses and had changed the strategy from trying to overturn Roe versus Wade to simply defund Planned Parenthood and other women support agencies in the states they control. These agencies not only provide abortion help (just 2% of Planned Parenthood’s funds go for that purpose), but free tests for cancer, STD, information and items for contraception, sex education, and more. There are over 900 bills pending in the various states, and action has already been taken in some.

Sure, tell kids in their teens not to have sex will always work, or to get down on their knees and pray that the horrible lust (could that be the reason they were put on Earth?) will magically go away. We will have more teen-age illegal abortions, more babies, more disease, more undetected cancer, all creating an even greater strain on our health systems. We all know that the almighty depicted in the Sistine Chapel is pointing that all-powerful finger and saying you know when the sperm reaches the egg that is my progeny, and don’t screw around with it.

"We Can Do It" poster. Public domain.

Writing about this impending tragedy is fine, as it informs others, but why not do something about it? If you belong to any organization or activity, especially one that empowers women, set up information stands at your events, have petitions, contact local and state representatives; do whatever you can. And don’t assume that all Republicans, especially women, want rights taken away from citizens.

Just get up and shout out the window (from that wonderful movie “Network”): “I’m mad as Hell, and I am not going to take it anymore”.

Don’t let the zealots think they are the only ones with balls (!); you can overpower them and preserve your rights!

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6 comments on “Don’t just write it, fight it!”

Recent events in parts of the world suffering from oppression that we can only imagine provide a powerful example: normal people, many of them young, did as Jerry’s proverbial movie scene commands, yelling from their metaphorical windows until they changed the course of history.

It’s important that we cast this issue in nonpartisan terms (even though “the right” doesn’t bother trying to do so anymore): access to reproductive health — including abortion, as far as I’m concerned — is a basic human right, and efforts to block that access, whether via legislation or simple budgetary means, is an attempt to marginalize and oppress.

Why should anyone be forced to pay for another’s abortion? If a woman has a right to choose, doesn’t she also have a right to demur? If a woman should not be forced to bear the burden of a child, why should she be forced to bear the burden of another woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy?

It is high time we extricate abortion from the political realm altogether. Abortion is a moral choice. Except in the most extreme circumstances, to terminate a pregnancy in the moments before birth is murder; to terminate it in the moments after conception most definitely not murder – in every moment in between, the matter becomes murkier and less amenable to legal definition at all – but it is always a matter of personal morality.

The probability that any state will ban abortion is close to nil – too many people are too sexually active, and all but the morons and children among them want to have a legal way of dealing with unwanted pregnancies. Republicans (and a few Democrats) pander to the vocal anti-abortion block, but are no more serious about banning abortion than they are about shrinking government or holding sociopathic bankers responsible for their fraudulent conduct.

I lived my first 18 years in Jersey and now I am stuck in Mississippi where they are taking my rights away. I used Planned Parenthood for birth control and education reasons when I was young until I was in my 20s. I can’t imagine not having these resources for my young daughter. Just sad..

John, it would be so great if we would get the influence away from the “moralists” altogether as you suggest. Your answer may upset some, but I think it is absolutely correct. I would think that if it is rape or incest then if they cannot afford it, health services should provide it.